Ending poverty

Rich and Poor. Nothing divides us like these two words - and these two worlds. In societies, there are rich people and poor people. In the world, there are rich countries and poor countries, although most prefer to use the words 'Developed' and 'Developing'. We immediately think of money as the common denominator that divides these two camps, but being rich or poor is a matter of not only money. It is a combination of so many other factors. And unlike ageing and death, poverty is not inevitable. It is avoidable and even reversible, if the right resources are committed.

Goal

Poverty is one of the biggest problems faced by our globalised world. The eradication of poverty is a dire need, but it remains an elusive goal despite the best efforts of individual Governments and the United Nations. "Life is better now than at almost any time in history," writes 2015 Nobel Prize for Economics winner Angus Deaton Deaton in his famous book The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality. He says: "More people are richer and fewer people live in dire poverty. Lives are longer and parents no longer routinely watch a quarter of their children die. Yet millions still experience the horrors of destitution and of premature death. The world is hugely unequal."

As a reminder of the importance of eradicating extreme poverty, the UN has designated October 17 as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. The theme for this year is "Building a sustainable future: Coming together to end poverty and discrimination". This year, the day has assumed special significance as it comes on the heels of the adoption of the "Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" by the UN General Assembly at a special session last month.

Awareness

The Agenda, which succeeds the UN's Millennium Development Goals, contains 17 new and ambitious goals - foremost among them, to 'end poverty in all its forms everywhere'. In fact, the first target under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1 reads: "By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day". This year's celebration also falls within the Second Decade for Poverty Eradication (2008-2017). The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty has been observed every year since 1993, when the United Nations General Assembly, designated this day to promote awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution in all countries.

The observance of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty can be traced back to October 17, 1987. On that day, over 100,000 people gathered at the Trocadéro in Paris, where the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948, to honour the victims of extreme poverty, violence and hunger.

They proclaimed that poverty is a violation of human rights and affirmed the need to come together to ensure that these rights are respected. Since then, people of all backgrounds, beliefs and social origins have gathered every year on October 17th to renew their commitment and show their solidarity with the poor. Replicas of the commemorative stone have been unveiled around the world and serve as a gathering place to celebrate the Day. One such replica is located in the garden of United Nations Headquarters and is the site of the annual commemoration organized by the United Nations Secretariat in New York.

Statistics

There is some good news on the poverty front, because recent statistics indicate that global poverty rates are falling. The World Bank has even announced a revised International Poverty Line. Extreme poverty is now defined as living on US$ 1.90 per day, which is upward revision. Global extreme poverty incidence is slated to fall below 10 percent soon, according to the World Bank.

This is the first time that it will come down to single digits. More than 1.2 billion people have risen above the global poverty line over the past 25 years, which is a great achievement. But in terms of actual numbers, this means that around 700 million people around the world (mostly in Africa, Latin America and Asia) are living in abject poverty. This is still a huge number and a blot on the collective conscience of the world.

Poverty is a vicious cycle that denies basic human rights to these millions of people. Extreme poverty denies access to education and healthcare for many people (Sri Lanka, where both these services are free with access even to the poorest, is a shining example for the developing world). The poor cannot often find employment as they are not formally educated, which further traps them in poverty. They cannot afford decent standards of living with proper housing and sanitation. This in turn leads to various social problems.

A country cannot become rich or developed in that sense of the word unless and until its citizens are extricated from the quagmire of poverty. Some countries give a 'dole' for their poor and homeless citizens, but this is not exactly the correct way to handle the problem of poverty.

Handouts

The key is to make them self-reliant so that they will veer away from handouts and subsidies. This was the aim of the original Janasaviya concept, which was later transformed into the Samurdhi programme. Sri Lanka has recorded success in terms of poverty eradication, with the poverty headcount ratio coming down to 6.7 percent in 2012 from 28.8 percent in 1995 (World Bank statistics). But there is a long way to go before Sri Lanka becomes completely free of poverty. In South Asia as a whole, some 231 million still live in poverty down from 575 million in 1990.

Most economists agree that rapid economic growth with equitable distribution of wealth is the best answer to poverty. The sharp decline in extreme poverty since 1990 is most clearly linked to the increase in global growth following the liberalization of most economies including that of China and India, the two countries with one billion plus populations. It is now time to look beyond ending extreme poverty and think of ending poverty in all its manifestations, inclusive of improving socio-economic conditions such as education and health that boost overall living standards.